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The World of Protozoa, Rotifera, Nematoda and Oligochaeta

Caliperia

Caliperia Laird, 1953 (ref. ID; 1555, 3969, 7412)

[ref. ID; 1555]
Marine genus. (ref. ID; 1555)

[ref. ID; 3969]
Diagnosis; Cinctum with limbs unjoined. Cinctum noncontractile, containing an internal rod-like organelle. Body cylindrical, micronucleus fusiform. (ref. ID; 3969)
Type species; Caliperia longipes Laird (ref. ID; 3969)

[ref. ID; 7412]
Caliperia is separated from Ellobiophrya by having a non-contractile skeletal rod in the cinctum and lacking a bouton (Clamp 1982; Laird 1953). Caliperia longipes, the sole remaining species in the genus, is visibly so similar to E. brevipes and E. conviva that the validity of Caliperia is placed in doubt. Laird's figures of C. longipes (Laird, 1953) show an elongate structure within the cinctum that strongly resembles the circular myonemes in the cincta of E. conviva (Bradbury & Clamp, 1991) and E. brevipes. Laird (1953) asserts that this structure is a supporting rod, the rigidity of which enables the ciliate to maintain its attachment to the host by passive pressure; however, he also notes that the cinctal arms of fixed individuals bunch up into folds or constrict at points along their length, suggesting to us contraction at the moment of fixation. In addition, Laird's figures and textual description of not uneqivocally rule out the presence of a bouton of some kind in C. longipes. This species should be reexamined to determine if its cinctum contains a myoneme and if a bouton links the tips of the cinctal arms. (ref. ID; 7412)
  1. Caliperia brevipesLaird, 1959 (ref. ID; 7412) reported author and year? (ref. ID; 3969)
    See; Ellobiophrya brevipes (ref. ID; 7412)
  2. Caliperia longipes Laird, 1953 (ref. ID; 7412) reported year? (ref. ID; 3969)